Black Belt Dojo

Getting to the point

I've just finished writing an article for the Hub about my 'ARROW' framework, so I thought it probably made sense to talk about it on here too, whilst it's on my mind.

In brief, I put together the ARROW framework/model (call it what you will) to put some structure behind that initial conversation with a customer where they say 'I want a newsletter please' and you think 'that is SO not the right thing to do' and spend the next half an hour trying to convince them otherwise, whilst going an ever more unattractive shade of purple.

In my experience (horrible consultant-type phrase. Please forgive me), things sometimes start to go pear-shaped because either a) comms person is so delivery-focused that they want to deliver what the customer wants at all costs - even if it won't actually make any difference to the business or b) comms person goes into argument mode about why it's the wrong thing to do, when s/he would be better off asking helpful questions about what their customer really wants to achieve.

The ARROW model suggests you ask questions around 5 different areas. You can choose whatever questions make the most sense for the scenario, but I've given some examples here:

A = AIM. Find out what the customer actually wants to achieve. For example:

• That's an interesting idea to put a different Intranet story up every day for the next six months, yes.  So, if we were to look ahead to the end of that six months, what would you ideally want people to be feeling and doing differently as a result?
• Are there any specific business results you're hoping this communication will influence? Do you have any specific targets you need to reach?

R = REALITY. Find out what's happening today, so you can establish the gap between the reality and the aim. Example questions:

• And what do people feel/what are they doing today?  How do we know?
• What are those business results today? How far away are we from the target?

R = ROADBLOCKS. Establish what could stop you getting from the reality to the aim. E.g:

• What could go wrong?
• What are the one or two biggest potential barriers to us achieving the aim?

O = OPPORTUNITIES. Ask specific questions to narrow down the things that would make the biggest different to achieving the aim. For example:

• If there were just one thing we could manage to get people to do differently in the next six months, what should it be?

W = WHO AND WHEN.  You might by now have established these already, but if not ... make sure you know which groups of employees need to do something differently, and whether there are any specific timescales by which things need to be achieved. E.g:

• Are there any specific groups of people we need to target for this aim to be achieved?
• Are there any particular deadlines or milestones we need to work towards? 

Hopefully, by this point, you've now gathered enough helpful information to understand what the customer wants and how communication can best contribute towards achieving it. And by working through the questioning process, said customer may have started thinking through in their own mind what they actually want people to do differently, instead of just thinking they need to 'tell everyone about it'.

You also have some helpful information to push back in a more constructive way, using coaching questions. For example, 'So, we need to get our sales up by 50% in the next 6 months - is that right?  And the main group we want to target is our field sales force? Do we know what percentage of our field force actually has access to the Intranet? Really? That low ... hmmm ... I wonder if there's another route that might give us a better result - what do you think?'

That's a very condensed version, but I hope you get the gist, and I'd be interested to know whether you find the idea helpful. I called it the ARROW model, by the way, because the idea of it is, in the nicest possible way, to decipher 'what's the point' behind the communication you're being asked to deliver.

Sue

The starfish story

It seems I managed to strike a chord talking about people feeling a bit overladen and undervalued. Melcrum used an extract from my SCM column as their 'source' mailing this week, and I got some very nice notes from people afterwards.

With that in mind, and apologies to anyone who may find this a bit twee, I wondered if you've come across the Starfish Story before? It gets quoted in a lot of places, but I came across it when I was training to be a coach.

The basic point of it is that even when things look overwhelming and you might think you have no chance of influencing the bigger scheme of things, even if you change things for one person, you've made a difference. Read it for yourself. You'll see what I mean.

Sue

Autumn for new beginnings maybe?

I totally understand Sue's blog on discontent... I remember sitting in my BlackBelt Internal Comms course being a (single) working mum and to my mind, keeping a pretty healthy work/life balance at the same time. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and came back to the office bouncing with so much motivation. Folk were wondering quite what had happened to me during those residential stays at Cranfield!

However, one thing that did leave a very big notch up in my subconscious was that during each residential stay - a pretty large proportion of the participants were constantly on their BlackBerry or calling in to the office during breaks - or even saw some poor soles heading off upstairs to the study area to bash out reports that their companies were wanting by close of that particular day. On talking to some of them (as it intrigued me) I wanted to get to the bottom of whether it was folk being 'attached' to their job so much that it was a security blanket in helping one feel needed etc... or whether it was actually the business need and the total reactive stuff going on - even whilst he or she wanted to take time out to learn (let alone the company investing such a huge amount of money in the first place - surprised me that they were potentially being short-sighted in pulling from their staff whilst developing them).

It kinda made me go back thinking how on earth could I continue on this career path and develop into the commercial world AND keep a family running at the same time (being single at the time). I then fell on a book somewhere and flicked through it... it was called 'The 5-Minute Father' and I know obviously I'm not a father but one part read... no-one puts on their grave stone "I wish I had worked harder". I then read a paragraph about the child wanting the parent to read/play with them and the parent replied "later son... I've just got this report to do then I'm all yours" (that was me!)... years went on and the parent was still saying "later son". The child then becomes an 18 year old and the parent offers to take the son out for the evening or to an event. The teenager then says "sorry dad... I've got plans - but can I borrow your car"? Child had become an adult and no longer needed the parent as such - end of window for childhood. I can safely say that's now NOT going to be me!

I know some of you don't have children - or event want them and that's fine but this particularly made me weigh up the latter concept v building myself a career in internal comms. I'd love to hear anyone's inspiring stories around conquering that.

As such, I've spent the last 18 months (since the BlackBelt training) really building my comms role here at RNIB into more of a coaching role. Customer demand is outstripping what I can provide at the moment though but not knocking that. That said, I am stepping out of the internal comms arena to a more external focus - talking to our intermediary customers around our product ranges that we sell both within the UK and internationally but on 30 hours a week so manageable but keeping the grey matter challenged at the same time. I'm all for taking opportunities, as they come my way as you never know what's round the corner do you.

The open day went well on Friday too btw... went quiet on the blogging as wanted to ensure all went to plan and thankfully it did! 227 visitors passed through our doors to take part in site tours, demonstrations, exhibitions and bite-size presentations. We've had fantastic feedback from our customers saying they want us to do more of these events and to give our blind or partially sighted friends more opportunities to learn more about what's out there for them.

Summer of discontent?

Last week I mentioned how I've heard from a fair few internal comms people over the summer who are feeling less than happy in their work. I even had an email from someone I've never met asking if it was 'normal' to feel undervalued, misunderstood and not given a license to operate.

It concerns me a lot to see so many people - and good people, too - who are feeling unhappy, overworked, questioning the value they are adding and, in some cases, thinking about leaving. It worries me when I see people looking incredibly tired and knowing that however hard they try, they can't get on top of things and they're set for yet another weekend working. Do the organisations they work for realise, I wonder?   

I also wonder if companies realise how yet announcing yet another IC restructure can destabilise the team and set their best people looking for pastures new?  I've lost count of how many organisations seem to have started restructures in the past few months.  I've also seen companies pay out a fortune in redundancies and then pay out yet another fortune to recruitment agencies ... and then do it all over again after a year. And again. And again. I'm struggling to see the logic.

On the 'feeling undervalued and overworked' point, personally I try to think about the sense behind the serenity prayer - the idea of changing what you can change, accepting what you can't, and being able to recognise the difference between the two. Sometimes, the organisation doesn't 'get' internal comms because of things we're doing or not doing. Which means there are things we can do to change that situation. I've written my next SCM column on this, so I won't repeat myself here.

Sometimes, recognising that there are things that can't be changed and stopping fighting against it can be like letting the valve of a pressure cooker. There's a choice between getting unbelievably frustrated and exasperated whilst being able to do nothing about it, or ... accepting that some fires just have to be left burning and going off to find one you have some chance of putting out.

But sometimes - and the thing that worries me the most is that I'm hearing this from more and more people - the only choice seems to be to leave the organisation, to leave the in-house world, or to leave internal communications altogether. So I come back to my question about 'what's going on??' Why are so many people in this place? Or is it just that apparently so many people who ARE in this place decide to talk to me about it, so my sense of it is totally out of proportion?

Thoughts? If anyone is brave enough to voice them?

Sue

Audiences, stakeholders or something else?

Last week I was at Melcrum's strategic research forum, talking about a new project that I'll tell you more about when it gets a bit further down the track.

In the course of the discussion, up popped a subject which has been niggling me on and off for ages. Which is ... what should we call those people that we communicate with? If you're writing a comms plan, and you have a section where you segment people into different groups, what do you call those groups?

You could go with audiences ... but I know some people hate the term, and in fact I was told I was 'old school' after one conference in which I used it!  The reason for that is that can have implications of a passive group of people, there simply to be 'fed' messages. It's not the way I mean it, but I know that's the sense some people take from it.

So, alternatively, you could go with stakeholders ... which implies people have a stake in the organisation, and will take an active role in communication rather than just sitting listening. The issues with this one are that a) I do find it such a horrible jargonistic word! and b) when some organisations talk about 'stakeholders' they can mean something quite different.

Neither very satisfactory, really. I started hunting around for another word.  The CIPR's diploma course (on which we were forbidden to talk about 'audiences'!) refers to 'publics'. I don't know about you, but I definitely don't like that one!

So, what gets your vote? Audiences, stakeholders, or something else entirely?

Sue

Anyone for an open day??

It's open day time here at RNIB Peterborough and I'm now revving up for everything happening next Friday. My day today has mainly consisted of final preparations together with folks calling in asking about all sorts... hearing loops, times of presentations - how long the train will take to get to us... and what food will they get to eat? Sure it all sounds familar! Also lining up slots for the local radio and TV stations and all looking hopeful so fingers crossed we'll have a successful day. If you are in the area at all, and fancy popping in, we've got a homepage ad on our website: www.rnib.org.uk.

We've got local customers coming along as well as some of our major donors, potential business clients, local societies, eye health clinic folk and volunteers. We've also opened up the afternoon for our staff to bring along their friends and family - to give colleagues the opportunity to share where they work and to see some of the services that operate out of Peterborough.

I'll leave my info short and sweet today... do love Sue's new picture and looking forward too, to hearing the next episode on Steve's new job search!

Remember me?!

Hello, happy September, and a big grovelling apology from me for being so quiet over the summer!

Whenever I have found myself fretting about whether I know enough about social media to run social media sessions, Alex Manchester at Melcrum has always reminded me that I have a blog, I use social networking, and I have plenty of my own learning to contribute.

I think one of the points I'd make most strongly to anyone who has a leader thinking about a blog is that it's a big time commitment. It doesn't look it - just posting the odd thing about whatever's on your mind. But, however much I may have looked as if I've just been waffling on, I have actually always thought about it quite a lot! And over the summer I decided I needed a bit of a break. A big thanks to our guest bloggers for keeping you entertained.

Talking of guest bloggers, our former guest blogger Steve Evans will soon be leaving EasyJet. It's a sign of the times and a reflection on Steve's proactivity that he's started a Facebook group called 'Find Steve Evans a job in internal communications'.  In an age when apparently a massive percentage of jobs are filled through networks, I'll be really interested to hear how he gets on. Good luck Steve, and let us know how the networking approach works for you.

As for me, well, in brief, the summer brought lots of travel, the highlights of which were workshops in Cairo and Beijing. Thanks to the teams at Vodafone Egypt and Ericsson China for looking after me so well and arranging visits to some amazing places I've dreamed about seeing for years. 

I've also found myself immersed in lots of focus group work, which I love. These days my focus groups involve getting people involved in exercises rather than just sitting around the table and chatting. It's great fun, and the ever-curious side of me still really enjoys the chance to meet people from different industries, in different jobs, and get to ask lots of nosy questions about what life is like in their part of the world.

Do I sound as if I've been having fun? I have! It's great when I get to spend my time doing those parts of my work I enjoy the most. Although on the sobering side, over the summer I've been hearing from a few people who have been feeling overworked, undervalued, and a bit disillusioned with life in internal comms. That's a subject for my next post, I think.

It's good to be back!

Sue

PS I almost forgot. For all those of you who have kept saying 'for goodness sake, get rid of that photograph of you that makes you look ten years older and very corporate' - I finally booked myself in for a scary session with a photographer over the summer. Except he was lovely rather than scary, a whiz with lighting, and even managed to stop me looking like a frightened rabbit in the headlights! Hence the new version you see above, which hopefully looks a bit more 'me'! (Marc Rogoff, in case you're wondering. And I'd recommend him highly.)

A day in the life of... at RNIB

Thanks Steve/Nicky for your posts... In answer to Steve's question, and using RNIB as the example, we are an organisation with about 2,500 members of staff and over 3,000 volunteers (including our trustees) and a growing community of RNIB 'Members'. We have a passionate group of people working/volunteering and whenever I take visitors around the building (we operate a free site tour service here at Peterborough, one of our largest sites  and covers 8 acres) they always comment on how proud everyone seems to be.

On the comms approach, naturally whatever way we communicate, we have to ensure it's accessible... PowerPoint is not a natural first for us but if anything it definitely makes us more creative in delivery of presentations/udpates etc!

We have 2 segments of comms teams... an external team proactively working with our campaigning office and getting messages out there into the media and being RNIB's voice. Funding success for the wet AMD treatments being one of our most recent cases. RNIB is also organising a mass lobby of parliament in October as part of our campaign to extend eligibility to claim the higher rate mobility component of DLA - to include people with severe sight loss. That's huge is a great opportunity for staff to get out from behind their desks and go along to help too.

We also... now (!) have an internal comms network throughout RNIB and our new CEO brought that into the organisation so we have really embraced that and building as we go. Some managers haven't bought it but I'm finding, by getting out and about - joining team meetings, chatting to everyone and putting the time in to do that, it's paying off and my workload/requests for support etc have increased way beyond my expectations really. All great stuff though.

I sit between the two teams really... and focus on one particular section of the organisation, which enables me to drill down a bit more on subjects and get more involved to do the proactive comms side of things. To work for a charity, I've found motivating as people want to be here for the cause (mostly) and not just for the job. I have the fortune to get out and about and talk to groups of all walks of life and see some of our direct customers whereas I know that some staff come in, transcribe information into Braille... they never see that customer and so don't have that access for having a drip feed of motivational opportunites. We are working on that though!

We have recently re-branded and attached a new underpinning strategy to our new logo and rolled out a communications programme to all our people - in the form of a workshop/session where all staff had to attend (volunteers are next). We cherry-picked our presenters, to ensure we made best use of the time folks were away from their desks. During that session, we were providing reminders of what RNIB's achieved in the past (such as the postage stamp booklets... RNIB had a huge input to ensuring that whilst they are mainstream, they are 'invisibly' accessible to all). We also had filmed case studies of some customers - bringing home to them how RNIB has helped them have access to everyday living... where perhaps they didn't before... and also shared our new priorities/goals and asked everyone for their opinion, through workshop elements, on what services worked well, what we needed to harness from those services and develop to reach our customers in an even better way. We had really great feedback from that so something to expand upon.

Right... typed loads and so will stop jabbering for now. See you next time!

C :-)

Welcome to September '08!

Hi... I'm Caroline Woodward and thanks to Sue for inviting me to be the guest Black Belt Dojo blogger this month.

I am a Communications Manager at Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)... and spell it out as not to question your intelligence but more as lots of folk confuse us with the birds or lifeboats! I've worked for RNIB now for some 11 years, which pains me to write that in terms of staying in an organisation for such a long time. The truth is I've come into my comms role with a PA background and was given the break into comms when this position became available. I've been in my current role now for 7 years and it's started out as a one man band, and now we're at the stage of becoming 4... hopefully by Christmas (just at the stage of recruiting now). Was good fun mind you, being on my own (to a point!) and there was never a dull moment. I'm now spending more of my time doing half external comms work as well as internal work and do a lot of heading off to local schools and sharing information around sight loss - educating our young folk that blind people can do the same as everyone else; just in different ways. Will probably natter more about that as I go this month! I have to admit, the latter is one of my highlights to me. It's such a great priviledge to help children change/gain a positive perception of any kind of disability.

Changing the subject slightly... I'm quite new to the world of blogging so quite excited about being on board this month... I'm on leave for a couple of days at the moment but will be back and will write more. Am a working mum so having the last 2 days of the summer hols with my 8 year old son, before he heads back off to school on Weds, and off we go again with the parent/work juggling thing! :-)

Caroline